Mental health and wellness clinic The Soke today announces the launch of its Founders Development Programme, a first-of-its-kind course which has been designed to provide vital knowledge, understanding and skills to founders at the helms of fast growth businesses.
Partnering with founders and investors, the programme will be delivered by a multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, senior leadership coaches and media experts, to support founders in developing successful, sustainable leadership.
The Programme has been designed in response to research from Harvard Business School which listed the most important skills for founders of fast growth businesses. These included: choosing co-founders, appointing key talent, splitting equity, recruiting advisors, and managing a board (88 per cent), as well as setting and communicating vision, managing culture, ethical dilemmas, and cross-functional conflict (82 per cent).
The Founders Development Programme will include the following core modules, as well as others designed to teach and embed good leadership practices:
- Psychological assessment
- Leadership vs Management
- Practicing emotional and social intelligence
- Communication
- Conflict management
- Creating and sustaining corporate culture
- Exerting influence
- Training and delegation
- The pro-active model for decision making
- Key relationship mapping
- Skills needed for the board and investors
- Financial knowledge for non-financial people
- Media training
- Systemic psychotherapy
Maryam Meddin, founder & CEO of The Soke, comments:
“Whilst many founders may believe that they naturally possess the necessary characteristics for successful leadership, the reality is that few come to the fundraising table with the array of skills needed to successfully lead an organisation from inception to growth and beyond. This is particularly the case when founders are required to run a company not purely to satisfy their own ambition but to meet the expectations of investors and other stakeholders.
“The conflict between a founder’s passions and creativity and their obligation to deliver on stakeholders expectations can be the cause of destabilising dilemmas and must be addressed through early training and support. We are therefore excited to launch The Founders Development Programme, a first-of-its-kind, multi-disciplinary course to provide knowledge, understanding and skills to founders, equipping them with the tools to lead their companies to successful and sustainable growth.”
